Love this movie; so strange and hallucinogenic. How refreshing. I respect Bruno Ve Soto, a Corman regular who also appears briefly here, for putting up some of the money for this fairly "artistic" production. Perhaps he and Corman had a shared love for arthouse films.

Many have commented (negatively) on the narration; well, guess who? That's Ed McMahon from the Tonight Show.

Oh, my God. Worst narration in the history of the world. Doesn't even work as parody. Pity, 'cause it might have been a good film otherwise.

First, I'd like to begin by asking where I can find the original release that doesn't have the overdubbed narration? I'm sorry, but I believe the narrator completely distracts from such a gem as Dementia.

Secondly, I don't know about you, but I love this soundtrack. It doesn't quite match up with what is happening part of the time, but it is still a very unique soundtrack.

Now, put on your thinking caps boy's and girls. It's time to play, "Name The Story That Inspired This Movie."

I don't know if anyone else caught it, but this is a re-imagining of the classic Edgar Allen Poe's "The Telltale Heart." I caught that right away. If, for some reason you didn't catch that, it's because, again, the narration disrupts your concentration. And because of that, I can only give Daughter Of Horror, which is the title of THIS version, a 2 1/2 star rating.

Subject says it all.

and just as a side-note I noticed from the first shot that this movie was filmed in and around the Windward Avenue area of Venice Beach, California, the same location Orson Welles used for the opening sequence of "Touch of Evil. "

I thought it brilliant, and although the soundtrack could be a bit nerve jangling the first jazz number in the club was way good.
I am someone who likes some noise be it music etc when watching a film, hate silent movies.
Which ever you prefer the actual film worth a watch bigtime was impressed and not many films do I praise.

The video of this film is presented here in the wrong aspect ratio. This movie was not produced in widescreen 16:9, but in standard 4:3.

You can see DAUGHTER OF HORROR in its original and proper format and aspect ratio here:

http://www.archive.org/details/daughter_of_horror

This is a superb visual film that was totally ruined by the voiceover narration. In order to get it back to a visual/music only piece, I stripped the narration and added a soundtrack of my own making. If interested, you can see (and hear)the result here:

http://www.archive.org/details/Dementia_icemanBobEdit

I've read details about this film for years (the fact that a bit of this film is featured in the movie theater scene in "The Blob" [1959 I believe] only tantalized even more). I guess what impressed me immediately was the musical talent behind this (Ernest Gold, George Antheil, Marnie Nixon and Shorty Rogers). Gold of course went on to bigger productions, scoring such films as "Exodus" and his wife Marnie Nixon was probably the most famous movie vocalist never seen! Curiously, I just finished reading the latest book about Hedy Lamarr's radio controlled torpedo patent, developed during WWII, and the co-inventor of that was....George Antheil!

Adding to the curiosity is the fact that Ed MacMahon provided the narration. I read an interview with him some years ago in Cult Movies and while he could not remember exactly, that is probably him with the black stocking mask over his head in the graveyard sequence. I thought the narration could have been "toned down" a bit in this production; maybe the only flaw in what, for a low budget enterprise is a very arresting sort of film.

Bruno VeSota here reminds me of Charles Foster Kane! The only "name" actor I recognized was Angelo Rossito, the little person selling papers. He even wound up many years later in the one of the "Mad Max" sequels, looking pretty much the same.

I think William Thompson really was given a chance to show his creative skills as a cinematographer and many times, the imagery here was startling and inventive. Ed Wood used him of course, but there apparently was not enough time for things like close-ups and overhead shots as featured in this film. As a near silent film, they chose just the right person to put behind the camera, as Thompson's best work was during the silent era.

I was so very happy to be able to finally see this "curio" and thanks for making it available!

Michael